The End
by sinfulchihuahua0602
Summary: The opposite end of the spectrum; where my Stories of Innocence are of young Thor and Loki, these are older Thor and Loki stories. They are part of the MCU and are based on events from those movies. Warning: lots of feels (I made myself almost cry for a character I dislike because of what I wrote).
1. Chapter 1: Brothers - Broken Sun

_A/N: Okay, so I saw on Pinterest something that said it looked like Thor had been locked up in a cell in the Endgame trailer. This story takes place during Avengers 4. It is something that could happen but most likely won't. It's all feels. For the first time, I felt myself wanting to cry for Thor because of what I had written. Anyway, enjoy! :)_

 _You… will never be… a god…_

Thor sat despondently in his cell. The muted colors matched his feelings; the dull white of the walls matched the numbness that had spread through his whole body. Now, Loki wasn't the only one that was broken; Thor's heart had cracked a bit at everything he lost; first Frigga, then Odin, and now Loki and, he'd admit, even Heimdall had held a place in his heart. The strain that had been put on him… he'd only hold up so long under pressure, and now his heart had splintered and broke. Thor wasn't sure if he'd recover, actually. He just felt numb. He'd been in here for days, sitting on the bench, staring at the ground. Somewhere, deep in the back of his mind, he remembered why they'd locked him up, but he couldn't recall right now. He'd forsaken eating, drinking, sleeping. His mind had become his greatest enemy, where once it had been his friend.

That sound… the snap…

The snap of Loki's neck rang through his head, over and over, as his mind conjured up vivid images of when he was on Thanos's ship.

" _Almighty Thanos," Loki had said, with the tone that suggested he was going to do something that went completely against what they'd been fighting for, and Thor could feel it. He was going to say something that put him on the other side, and betrayed his trust yet again._

" _I, Loki-" Thor would have sighed, if he could. He recognized the tone, the words. Loki was declaring his loyalty to the purple titan before him. Thor almost bowed his head, but something told him to keep watching and listening, that it wasn't quite all that it seemed, even as a weariness of all of Loki's betrayals and a small spark of anger flooded through him._

" _-Prince of Asgard…" Here Loki trailed off and hesitated. Thor's mind started whirling. What was his brother doing?_

 _Loki looked at Thor with the most pain in his eyes that he'd ever seen, as well as a bit of hope and acceptance, and Thor thought he could see some kind of message in their green depths as well. It was the first time; usually Loki's expression betrayed nothing. Only an expert reader of people would be able to decipher his emotions, and even then, only his eyes really said anything. You definitely couldn't trust Loki's words._

" _...Odinson…"_

Odinson. _The full force of the word suddenly hit him. He kept eye contact with Loki, before his brother looked away. He knew Loki had seen the recognition in Thor's eye, what that one word meant to them both. For the first time, Thor was able to keep his expression unreadable, same as his brother's-though it wasn't very hard, with the muzzle, he thought with annoyance, the cold metal biting into his cheeks and mouth. Still, his mind was whirling with thoughts and emotions and_ what was his brother doing?

" _The rightful king of Jotunheim, God.. of Mischief," Loki continued, walking up towards Thanos. Thor glanced down at the tiniest bit of motion, and saw a flash of silver. Loki's hand curled up slightly backwards as it hung by his side, and there was the smallest gleam of one of the silver blades of his daggers before it disappeared between his waist and his arm. Thor's eyebrows furrowed; was that what he thought it was? Was Loki planning to do what he thought he was planning to do? His eyes darted fearfully from Thanos to Loki. A feeling of dread settled in his stomach like a cold rock. It wasn't going to end well. Something… something felt very, very_ wrong.

" _-do hereby pledge to you my…_ undying… _fidelity."_

 _Loki looked down for a long moment, and Thor's feeling of dread increased. He saw a shimmer of blue from Thanos's left hand, and all in a flash, Loki's arm was stretched upwards and the Infinity Gauntlet glowed blue in Thanos's hand, raised, almost casually, to intercept his brother's strike._

" _Undying?" Thanos said. "You should choose your words more carefully."_

 _The silver blade was inches-_ inches- _from Thanos's purple neck. Thor's muscles itched to leap at the titan, save his brother, and his legs started to cramp in the uncomfortable position he was in. He watched, helpless, as Loki's face turned to desperation-to a struggle-as he tried to push the blade past the Space Stone's endless power. The titan twisted Loki's dagger away with his right hand. Thanos used his other hand to reach for Loki's neck, as Thor had done so many times before-his fingers wrapped around the back of his brother's neck, the thumb just in front of his ear. He'd never realized how much he did it until Thanos reached for his brother's neck, and instead of a harmless hold, he closed the Gauntlet around Loki's neck and lifted him up almost effortlessly._

 _Loki began to struggle like a trapped bug, his legs kicking and hands clawing at the titan's arm, his face contorted into fear, desperation, and a thousand other emotions Thor couldn't name. His brother had always been the complex one, never Thor._

 _Thanos gave a sad smile, filled with something that was akin to pity for this victim, as if he had no choice. Loki made eye contact with Thor before the titan's grip squeezed. Horrible choking sounds emitted for his brother, forcing a bolt of pain through Thor's heart with every noise. Miraculously, Loki still had the ability to talk, though his voice sputtered and died out every few words, and Thor felt the most pain hearing his brother's voice like that. Usually, it was velvety and smooth, betraying nothing. He was a Silvertongue; occasionally, Thor could feel his brother's words invading his mind, his emotions, twisting and playing with them according to what Loki wanted. He had felt something like that on Sakaar, before Loki betrayed him yet again-besides Thor's general mistrust of his brother, that was also his incentive to stick the obedience disk on Loki's back._

" _You will… never be… a god," Loki finished painfully. Thor's eyes widened as the sound of the snap rang through the near-silent ship, drowning out all other sound, and Loki went terribly limp in Thanos's hand. Thanos walked over and dropped Loki's body near Thor._

" _No resurrections this time," he said carelessly and almost smugly, as he walked back to the Black Order. Then purple fire began to rage through the ship, and Thanos and the Order vanished with a glow of the Space Stone._

 _Thor was released from his bonds. Emotions raged through his body. Anger made his blood boil, coursing through his veins, hot and quick, and his vision was red at the edges. Grief invaded his mind, taking away all thought or reason, as he crawled towards the purple fire, pleading Loki's name the whole time. He laid halfway onto Loki's cold chest, cradling his hand, as he felt the suffocating heat of the fire reach him, and then his ears began to ring as the ship exploded, but somehow, he was not given mercy. He didn't join Loki in… wherever Loki had gone. Thor wasn't even sure Loki had gone to Valhalla, despite his honorable death._

Thor got up almost robotically and kneeled in front of the dull white walls. His voice sounded as hollow as he felt as he spoke softly.

"Lo, there do I see my Father,"

" _Why have you done this?"_

" _To prove to Father that I am a worthy son! When he wakes, I will have saved his life, I will have destroyed that race of monsters, and I will be true heir to the throne!"_

"Lo, there do I see my Mother,"

" _What makes you think you can trust me?"_

" _I don't. Mother did."_

"And my Brothers, and my Sisters,"

" _I never wanted the throne, I only ever wanted to be your equal!"_

"Lo, there do I see the line of my people back to the beginning,

Lo, they do call to me,

They bid me take my place among them in the halls of Valhalla,

Where thine enemies have been vanquished,"

" _You can't kill an entire race!"_

" _Why not?... And what is this new found love for the Frost Giants? You could have killed them all with your bare hands!"_

"Where the brave shall live forever,"

" _Come on, this place is perfect for you. It's savage, chaotic, lawless. Brother, you're going to do great here."_

" _Do you truly think so little of me?"_

" _Loki, I thought the world of you. I thought we were going to fight side by side forever… "_

"Nor shall we mourn but rejoice,

For those that have died the glorious death."

" _...those that have died the glorious death. "_

Loki's voice echoed in his mind, and Thor almost turned around, to see one of his brother's illusions standing there with that infuriatingly calm expression. Maybe even Loki himself…

" _If you were here, I might even give you a hug."_

" _I'm here."_

In the beginning, there had been some hope that Loki was only faking, as he had done. He couldn't die… he was _Loki_ …

… _right?_

Loki had not come back. He had not tried to subjugate Midgard. He had not disguised himself as a king. He had not saved them from Thanos; he had not helped Thanos because of his promise of fidelity to the titan.

 _He had not come back._

That was what had shattered Thor's heart, in the end. The first snap-when Loki died-had made possibly the biggest crack of them all in his heart. The second had only splintered it further. The years… that had finally broken him. He'd been put in a cell-he couldn't remember why-and at first he'd functioned normally. Eating, sleeping, drinking. He did all that. Then, just over a year ago, he'd started to decline. His appetite, once comparable to Volstagg's voraciousness, became that of a bird. Sleep? Hardly enough. Water was forced down his throat, but for fear of him choking, food had not been. Recently-the past week-he'd stopped eating, sleeping, and drinking altogether. He'd taken to staring brokenly at the ground, and everyone could see the horrible hollowness in his eyes. They'd considered letting him out-even opened the door and walked away for a few hours-but they'd always come back to him still staring at the ground. At first, he'd glanced up when they came and went, but now they were not acknowledged at all. Talking didn't work, either. Thor used to reply to them with clipped answers, his voice cracking and dying when they turned to the topic of moving on, but now they were met with a stony silence. All who visited him noticed the small, barely noticeable pools of clear water on the floor. Some was from the messy job of forcing Thor to drink; some was the former god's own tears.

It was when Thor's mind played cruel tricks on him and forced him to relive memories, as if in a dream, as if it was so starved for sleep that it was trying to make up for it by doing something that usually meant he was sleeping, that he made any noise, or moved from his position.

He'd roar suddenly in anger, or silent tears would run down his face and he'd make pitiful whimpering noises. Sometimes he'd yell Loki's name a couple times; sometimes he'd whisper it, over and over, for hours, his voice growing more broken and hollow with each repetition. Occasionally, he'd start pacing, or he'd punch the wall once, maybe more, or-rarely-he'd start talking to himself, to whoever would listen-and someone would, because someone was always watching Thor on the cameras, not out of the danger he himself posed to them, but out of simply wanting to make sure he didn't hurt himself any more than he already had.

It was now, after Thor had finished the prayer for the dead and returned to his seat, that his mind decided to send him visions. And, he couldn't do anything. He'd relinquished all control of himself to the numb feeling that spread through his body.

" _She wouldn't want us to fight," Thor spat. He stood up, off of Loki, who slowly began to get up, his eyes studying Thor as he watched his brother._

" _Well, she wouldn't exactly be shocked," Loki countered. Thor almost laughed at the smile he gave. It reminded him of times before; times when he could trust his brother. Thor dismissed the thoughts._

" _I wish I could trust you," he said, almost regretfully._

 _A mischievous thought entered Thor's mind. It could work…_

" _Hey, let's do 'Get Help,'" he suggested._

" _What?" Loki asked, and Thor grinned._

"' _Get Help,'" Thor repeated._

 _Loki answered almost immediately. "No."_

" _Come on, you love it."_

" _I hate it."_

" _It's great. It works every time."_

" _It's humiliating."_

" _Do you have a better plan?"_

" _No."_

" _We're doing it," Thor said, in a tone that suggested it was final, and stared ahead._

" _We are_ not _doing 'Get Help,'" Loki argued once again._

 _Thor felt Loki's limp weight as he supported him with one arm, and could barely hold back a grin as he imagined Loki's face._

" _Get help! Please! My brother is dying! Get help! Help him!" he yelled. The guards approached them and Thor hurled his brother at them. He grinned._

" _A classic," he said as Loki stood up._

" _I still hate it. It's humiliating," he said._

 _Thor kept grinning. "Not for me, it's not."_

…

" _You must have missed something," Loki remarked as Thor rushed around, pressing every button he could find on the spaceship._

" _I didn't, I'm pressing every button on this thing!" Thor countered._

" _No, don't hit it, just press it gently," Loki replied, in which Thor began hitting the buttons even harder and in an angry, desperate frenzy._

" _I-am-pressing-it-gently-it's-not-_ WORKING!" _Thor ground out, before the ship suddenly made a whirring noise and came to life in a bright glow of blue. Thor laughed and began to steer the ship. The sound of the columns of the Asgardian palace breaking rang through the air._

" _I think you missed a column," Loki chimed in._

" _Shut up!" Thor said, as he concentrated on driving the ship._

…

It was one of those days where Thor began crying silently. Steve Rogers was watching the surveillance and he almost cried, too. He understood what had happened to Thor, and though he couldn't begin to imagine the kind of relationship him and his brother had, and what memories he was reliving, he thought he could empathize with him. He had lost someone of his own that was unimaginably important to him too.

Thor continued to be tortured by the visions. The tears flowed silently for hours. He started talking to himself, and Steve tried to catch every word.

"...thank you for the commentary, Loki, it's not at all distracting!"

"...not just of Odin… you alone loved Frigga? You have her tricks but I had her trust!"

"...What help were you, in your cell?"

"...When I'm king, I'll hunt the monsters down and slay them all!"

At this last sentence he bowed his head even further and covered his face, then went silent, though Steve cursed Stark's genius in the perfect, smooth quality of the surveillance screen as he could see every tear that fell through the former god's hands and onto the floor.

Suddenly, Thor looked up. Steve leaned forward. For the first time in a long time, there was emotion in Thor's eyes. Disbelief filled their sky-blue depths, as well as hope, anger, and a dozen other emotions he couldn't name right now. And, when Thor stood up and whispered his brother's name, in the softest of voices, his voice wasn't hollow. Rather, that one soft-spoken word laid out all of Thor's soul for the world to see. Thor stared at a spot in front of him, and the tears renewed themselves.

No one there questioned the former god's sanity. They all believed it was buried deep under the black void of grief Thor had captured himself in. They didn't think he was going mad, not even when he started talking to himself as if he was having a real conversation.

Thor looked up. His brother stood there, giving him a small, sad smile. His emerald eyes were filled with pain and hurt.

Thor stood up. Slowly, slowly, some feeling was restored to his brain, and in the next moment, he had no desire to roar or yell, but rather to lay his soul out bare in one soft, whispered word.

"Loki?"

Loki stood before him, in his Ragnarok suit, his green cape hanging stagnant behind him and his skin covered with the same cuts and bruises he'd had when he died. Thor felt so many emotions rush through him, more than he could count, or name, or that he'd ever felt before. Loki was _alive?_ He faked his death- _again?_

Loki held his hands up. "I'm not alive, Thor. No resurrections this time, remember?"

Thor's shoulders slumped. He felt tears stream down his face yet again-his first real thought since being pulled from his grief was that _he really had to stop crying so much, it was un-Asgardian and not warrior-like._ He sat down on the bench again and stared at Loki, still disbelieving.

Loki smiled and lowered his hands. "You prayed for me to go to Valhalla," he said, and Thor could hear the emotion in those words. Thor returned his smile, knowing it was what Loki needed.

He glanced down. "I heard you and… with a little bit of persuasion on my part, I convinced Hela to let me visit you. It's not easy in Hel. Hela didn't enjoy our little trick with Surtur, you know."

Thor laughed. "I can see why she wouldn't."

"Well," Loki continued, "I have limited time here, and it seems our positions are reversed, so… I did not come here to share feelings. Instead-" here he laughed and looked at Thor meaningfully- "I offer you the chance of a far richer sacrament."

Thor glanced up. Since when did Loki ever need _him?_ Suddenly, his memory of how he had broken Loki out of prison for Malekith's attack came back to him, and he gave a short laugh. "Go on."

"I know you seek vengeance. You help me escape Hel and I will grant it to you. Vengeance," he said, only modifying the script of their previous encounter slightly.

Thor tilted his head. "Why would you want to escape Hel? I mean, it's not the best place to be, but what reason do you want to be alive again? It's…" He glanced down. "It's not the best of times to be alive."

Loki nodded. "I am well aware of the danger I'd be in if I was alive again. Thanos would probably hunt me down again and either enslave me or kill me before I'd be able to do anything. But… I can't live there. It's so _boring._ If I try to do any kind of prank, they set me on fire or something and I hate heat. You know that," Loki explained with a smirk, and Thor could've sworn he saw a hint of sapphire in Loki's pale, bruised, scarred Aesir skin.

Thor laughed, and not just a small chuckle either. This was true laughter-the kind that, if kept up long enough, would make your ribs and cheeks hurt, your eyes water, and you would be bent over in mirth. He watched as the corners of Loki's lips flashed upwards quickly in a real smile, before returning to his usual smirk, though amusement danced in his verdant eyes as Thor, after a few moments, finally stopped laughing. Steve Rogers, who was still watching the surveillance, almost laughed with Thor, though by now, he had no idea what was happening and was starting to question the former god's sanity. Asgardians were _so_ weird. He'd stopped trying to figure out Loki a long time ago, and it seemed Thor would be a repeat of his brother.

"Loki, I've missed you! You don't even know," Thor said. Loki's face sobered.

"Oh, but I do. I never left you. I used my magic so I would experience and feel and think whatever you were at the time, and… I'm sorry, Thor." His voice cracked, the smooth, velvety quality fleeing with a speed that Thor had never heard before, and Thor's smile faded instantly as Loki's voice was reduced to a broken whisper, and he stared at the floor.

"I had no idea."

Thor felt the pain in those four words, and the immense remorse he felt. He smiled, though there was not an ounce of happiness in it, but rather the crushing weight of millenia of memories together, only for one to disappear from the other's life completely, their relationship questioned and their hearts both broken. "Maybe you're not so bad after all, brother."

Loki looked up, hope in his eyes.

"Maybe not."


	2. Chapter 2: Brothers - Dark Moon

_A/N: The second part of the Brothers twin stories. Lots of feels. I felt like crying when I read my own writing. Enjoy! :)_

Loki strode calmly through Hel, bored out of his mind, as he had been for years now. It was basically a barren wasteland, filled with spontaneous lava geysers, some mountains, and radiating an unbearable heat. For the first time since he was alive, Loki longed for the frozen realm of Jotunheim, with its vast, icy plains and blizzards at least once a week.

He felt a tingling in the back of his mind and called it to his attention. It was his connection to Thor that he'd made years ago, and it alerted him when Thor was having some particularly strong feelings about him. He felt sort of guilty for invading Thor's mind like this, but he was dead, and this was the only time he had enough power to cast this kind of spell. He was also curious to see what Thor thought of him.

And, though he'd never admit it, he wanted to make sure Thor was okay, because, even after everything that had happened, he loved Thor, and that couldn't be changed.

He immersed himself in the connection, slipping easily through Thor's mental barriers, which were severely lacking, and letting himself be bombarded by thoughts, feelings, and emotions.

" _Almighty Thanos," Loki said, and he stood off to the side, watching himself die._ Loki almost tuned out the memory, since it ignited dozens of feelings and thoughts that he really didn't wish to deal with at the moment-he hadn't for years, and it had been easy, since he'd been locking away his emotions for millennia-but he stayed, watching it through, remembering every thought he'd had at the time, every feeling.

Fifteen minutes later, Loki found himself in a small cave at the base of one of the mountains-his hiding place from the rest of Hel-and a silent tear made one clean streak through the dirt on his face. He leaned against the stone wall, abruptly cutting off the connection, feeling more tears make their way down his face. Flashes of emotion cut through him like knives-happiness, pain, guilt, despair, sadness, and dozens more that he, being an expert at reading emotions, could name given the effort, but felt too weak to. He leaned his head back and stared up at the ceiling, forcing himself to stop crying and for the emotions to _leave, leave, leave._

They didn't.

Loki hated emotions. They made him weak, emotional, made him question obvious decisions that were for the better-for him, at least. The same thing happened every time he used his connection to Thor. He'd end up here, emotions slicing through the walls he built around himself, weak, sometimes crying, and overall a mess. He didn't know why he kept doing it, when he hated what it made him into. Yet, he continued, over and over-sometimes several times a day. Loki was beginning to think it was like a drug-his only source of consolation from the dullness of each day being reliving painful memories and ensuring Thor wasn't physically hurting himself in his grief.

This is what he did now, despite his mind's protests against making him even weaker than he was, when he sought out the connection and slipped through Thor's barriers yet again, immediately immersing himself in the memories Thor was having.

He stood in the cell, invisible to Thor, nor even really there in the first place, and watched as Thor stood up. His limbs moved robotically as he knelt in front of the glass and bowed his head.

"Lo, there do I see our Father," Thor's deep voice growled. Loki's mind reeled with shock. Thor was praying for him to go to Valhalla? Since when did anyone ever think of him that highly? Certainly not Odin, or even Frigga. Loki didn't believe he even deserved the _thought_ of him going to Valhalla, let alone the prayer. He was right-Thor was insane.

A memory flashed in Loki's mind suddenly, and he recognized it as Thor's, induced by the words he spoke.

" _Why have you done this?"_

" _To prove to Father that I am a worthy son! When he wakes, I will have saved his life, I will have destroyed that race of monsters, and I will be true heir to the throne!"_

Loki silently added on to his words, remembering what he'd felt at the time. _I will have destroyed that race of monsters…_ all but one.

Then, to Loki's disbelief, Thor continued. "Lo, there do I see our Mother,"

" _What makes you think you can trust me?"_

" _I don't. Mother did."_

Loki glanced down at the floor. He fought his emotions which threatened to break his walls down completely, yet he kept listening.

"And our Brothers, and our Sisters,"

The next memory sent a spike of pain through Loki's mental walls, and he felt a tear run down his face. Again? Didn't he say he _wasn't_ going to do this, exactly for this reason?

" _I never wanted the throne, I only ever wanted to be your equal!"_ That sentence was when Loki had laid his feelings out for Thor to see, and yet the witless oaf had not picked up on it.

"Lo, there do I see the line of our people, back to the beginning,

Lo, they do call to you,

They bid you take your place among them in the halls of Valhalla,

Where thine enemies have been vanquished,"

" _You can't kill an entire race!"_

" _Why not?... And what is this new-found love for the Frost Giants? You could have killed them all with your bare hands!"_ Loki kept watching despite himself, seemingly frozen in place.

"Where the brave shall live forever,"

" _Come on, this place is perfect for you. It's savage, chaotic, lawless… Brother, you're going to do great here!"_

" _Do you truly think so little of me?"_

" _Loki, I thought the world of you. I thought we were going to fight side by side forever…"_

Loki's mouth opened involuntarily. It felt like he'd been punched in the gut-hard enough for him to feel it. He turned away for a moment, though he knew Thor couldn't see him. That memory was possibly the most painful, because Thor had used the past tense. _I thought the world of you._ Thor had previously considered him everything, but then Loki had fallen and he now thought of Loki as he had said- _savage, chaotic, lawless._ That had physically hurt Loki, cut him to his truest self.

And he was sure he hadn't recovered.

"Nor shall we mourn but rejoice," Thor said, and Loki turned back. His heart bleeding, he whispered the final words.

"...those that have died the glorious death."

As soon as that was done, Loki set his mouth into a firm line and vanished, abruptly severing the connection. He returned to the bleak cave and stood up, striding purposefully out and towards the spire in the distance, where Hela was.

…

Loki was back in his cave, and he felt the connection tingling uncontrollably, pulsing, and yet he ignored it.

Then, it stopped suddenly, and that was his cue. He summoned up a vast amount of his magic and held it there along with the small red stone in his right hand, and examined his emotions. He forcefully locked them away and then squeezed the stone, channeling his magic into it. The stone started to break away into fine dust particles, forming a cloud around him, spinning faster and faster.

Then, Loki opened his eyes and was met with dull white walls and glass. Thor's head was in his hands in front of him, but his brother glanced up. Loki saw the hollowness in his eyes get immediately replaced by emotions as he stared up at Loki, not processing it for a second. Loki offered a sad smile as he watched Thor silently.

"Loki?"

Loki nodded. Everything felt slightly surreal—he never thought he'd hear Thor's voice that quiet. He could hear every emotion Thor had felt in the past few years in that one word.

Loki could practically see Thor's mind jumping to conclusions, and not because of his connection. He raised his hands up as if he was surrendering. "I'm not alive, Thor. No resurrections this time, remember?"

Thor's shoulders slumped, and Loki felt a small stab of guilt. He glanced down, lowering his hands and letting them fidget at his waist, then gave a small smile. "You prayed for me to go to Valhalla," he said.

Thor glanced up, when Loki looked down again. "I heard you and… with a little bit of persuasion on my part, I convinced Hela to let me visit you. It's not easy in Hel. Hela didn't enjoy our little trick with Surtur, you know," he explained. Thor laughed.

"I can see why she wouldn't."

A memory flashed in Loki's mind; he gave a short smile at the irony. "Well… I have limited time here, and it seems our positions are reversed, so… I did not come here to share feelings. Instead-" he laughed sarcastically and gave a meaningful look to Thor- "I offer you the chance of a far richer sacrament."

Thor glanced up sharply. Loki could see the surprise in his eyes, before the recognition and he played along with it, giving a short laugh. "Go on."

Loki recalled the words easily. How ironic that they were repeating this scene. Loki had never thought that he would be the one bargaining with Thor to take him out of prison. It was a far-fetched idea, but here they were. "I know you seek vengeance. You help me escape Hel and I will grant it to you. Vengeance."

Thor tilted his head in puzzlement. "Why would you want to escape Hel? I mean, it's not the best place to be, but for what reason do you want to be alive again? It's..." He glanced down. "It's not the best of times to be alive."

Loki nodded, knowing full well what Thanos was capable of-probably more than any of the Avengers did. "I am well aware of the danger I'd be in if I were to resurrect myself. Thanos would probably hunt me down and either enslave me or kill me before I'd be able to do anything. But… I can't live there. It's so _boring._ If I try to do any kind of prank, they set me on fire or something and I hate heat. You know that," he explained, letting a small bit of his Jotun form seep through to show on his skin and smirking at Thor, who burst into laughter. Loki couldn't help but give his own quick smile as he watched Thor finally control himself.

"Loki, I've missed you! You don't even know," Thor said. Loki's smirk vanished. He remembered the past few years. Pain sliced through him, sharper than any knife he'd used, and he met Thor's gaze.

"Oh, but I do. I never left you. I used my magic so I would experience and feel and think whatever you were at the time, and…" He tried to maintain his sarcastic facade, to cover it up with his quick wit and biting remarks, but he heard the silvery quality of his voice flee like a prey animal being chased by a predator, and his voice came out broken, cracked.

"I'm sorry, Thor."

His voice was further reduced as he thought back to the pain he'd felt over all the years; he could barely do anything more than whisper through all the combined pain of both him and Thor.

"I had no idea."

He glanced up at Thor, who gave a smile. The smile had not an ounce of happiness in it, but rather the crushing weight of millennia of memories together, only to have one be ripped violently from the other, their relationship questioned and both their hearts broken. Loki glanced back down, only to move his eyes back up to Thor as he spoke quietly.

"Maybe you're not so bad after all, brother."

Loki felt the connection. He immersed himself in it, seeing flashes of every memory they'd ever had, from their childhood to now, and he felt an emotion he couldn't remember the last time he'd felt it flood through him, golden and shining. It matched his brother and, as it flooded through him, he felt it slip through his walls, filling the cracks in his heart, weaving between all of the pain and hurt and memories. It was quietly firm-not intruding, not destroying, but quietly setting itself there and telling him that it was there to stay, that there was always something there, even if everything else were to shatter around him.

Hope.

"Maybe not."

...

 _A/N: This next part is at the end of Avengers 4. It is short, painful, and happy all at once. I got the idea from something I saw on Pinterest. Also, it is my interpretation of Valhalla and the best for what I want to write._

Thor lay on the ground. His mind was getting fuzzier by the moment as he felt his life fade away. They had won. Thanos had been defeated, though that had come at a high price. Many had died; some were dying; some had survived. Thor felt a surreal sense of peace and content come over him. His sapphire eyes stared up into a cloudless blue Midgardian sky; tall trees, glowing vibrant green, were at the edges of his vision; a cool breeze blew gently over him, caressing him, as if the world was at peace and was telling him that it was okay; it was time to sleep.

Just as his life bled out of him, he gave a small smile, one crystal thought coming through the fuzziness of his brain. At least his last sight would be of a world at peace, and the cool blue of the sky, with the breeze blowing gently over him like a soft blanket, easing his worries and soothing his wounds. Dimly, Thor felt the pain of his wounds, before cool air washed over him and the pain fled, fading gently away like a candle flame slowly going out. He felt darkness at the edge of his mind, threatening to take over, yet not threatening, slowly weaving its way through his consciousness, gently turning off his mind, thought, body.

Thor felt at peace with everything; he had achieved true happiness in his last moments. A small smile lit his scarred, bruised, bleeding face, a light in the darkness.

He closed his eyes.

...

The darkness was fleeting, like a dream. He could barely remember it. He vaguely remembered a female voice, then... now he was here. Wasn't he dead?

Suddenly, his feeling of peace fled. He slowly opened his eyes and was met with blue skies and a blinding sun; he closed his eyes again. Thor turned his head to the side and opened his eyes again, seeing vibrant green grass and a low stone wall several yards away. He sat up, momentarily disoriented. This wasn't Midgard; he could feel the underlying current of magic in the air, just barely. His magical senses weren't as strong as Loki's.

He looked to his left and the stone wall was directly next to him. It circled around, as if this was a yard. Was this Valhalla?

He turned almost all the way around and the first thing he saw was Loki, leaning against an old house, staring into the distance, at the vibrant green grass fields beyond. He didn't even seem to notice Thor, though he knew that Loki knew he was there. His face seemed strangely peaceful, as if he had finally accepted himself and the turmoil in his mind and heart were no more.

Before he could say anything, Loki spoke up, his voice quiet yet powerful and holding a note that Thor hadn't heard in a long time, a note of happiness.

"I told you the sun would shine on us again, brother." He turned towards Thor and slowly stood up. Thor followed suit, facing Loki uncertainly. What was happening? He had come to expect vague representations of certain mindsets Loki had towards him, which then affected how he acted towards him. He could never truly judge him, because his brother was far too complex and subtle for that, and Thor had not the skill to untangle the web of emotions that was Loki, God of Mischief and Lies, but he had always had a vague idea which told him how to act.

This, however, was unfamiliar ground.

Thor took a step forward, but for the first time, Loki didn't take a step back. Instead, Thor watched as something broke inside Loki, and one tear ran down his face. That, in turn, caused Thor to feel his eyes welling up. He walked forward quickly and embraced Loki, feeling his brother's shoulders shake gently as he hugged him, and Loki's arms slowly wrapped around Thor's back, accepting the hug for the first time. Thor felt tears run down his face, and he shamelessly let them.

The sun shone down on them both.


	3. Chapter 3: Drowning in the Dark

_A/N: This story takes place during the fight on Stark Tower between Thor and Loki during Avengers 1. Since Marvel confirmed Loki was being mind controlled, I think that Loki was still inside, but he was watching himself do things that he didn't want to to save himself, and his real self was screaming the whole time to stop it and was trying to escape. Anyway. Have some tears. :)_

 _Also, the chapter title is dedicated to LoquaciousQuibbler's story Banditry, which is really good and i highly recommend it. Anyway, Loqi and anyone who read her story will know what the title refers to._

Thor's hands wrapped around Loki's face, holding it still. Loki saw the city falling, all ash and fire and destruction. _His_ destruction.

And he hated it. He didn't want this, he never did-

 _ **But you do… You've always wanted this… To rule, and destroy…**_

 _No! No, not like this! I want to be king of Asgard, before-_

 _ **I would choose your next words very carefully… Before your salvation… The Other has saved you, Loki… your vulnerable, broken soul is whole again with the power that he has blessed you…**_

 _No, it's not! I'm not whole, not at all,_ Loki's mind screamed back at the voice. It was like watching his body do something he didn't want to, even though he was the one consciously making the decisions to save himself from the wrath of Thanos, should he fail.

"Look at this! Look around you! You think this madness will end with your rule?" Thor's voice broke through the Tesseract's constant whispering. Loki tried to look away, but failed.

 _Thor… it's not about my rule… it's never been about my rule-_

 _ **Yes it has, Loki, it always has,**_ the Tesseract cut in. _**You belong to the Other, and you want to rule Midgard… all of it. You want to reform Midgard; the small, worthless humans don't deserve to rule themselves. Correct?**_

 _...correct._

"It's too late. It's too late to stop it," Loki replied, though his mind screamed at him to stop, stop, stop this madness, he didn't want to rule, he wanted to be Thor's equal, always his equal. And he wanted a father… a father that loved him. Odin was not that and neither was Laufey.

"No. We can. Together," Thor encouraged, ever the optimist.

 _No, Thor. Alone. You can. I can't. I'm not in contr-_

 _ **You're not what?**_

 _...not on your side, Thor. I've never been on your side. Never…_

Loki had never felt a more perfect sense of control. Thanos had control of his mind; his body; his spirit, which was slowly breaking with every second he spent under the rule of Thanos. His mind had always been his greatest asset; where he couldn't talk, he could plot; where he couldn't act, he could plan.

And that was gone too.

 _NonononoIdon'twantthis-_

Loki stabbed Thor non-fatally. He turned away as Thor keeled over.

 _NotthisnoThorIonlyeverwantedtobeyourequal-_

"Sentiment," he said, disgusted. Suddenly, Thor got up and kicked Loki. He picked him up and slammed him down, hard. Loki felt pain explode in starbursts throughout his body, both from the torture and the actual attacks. Loki felt something bleeding. He rolled down and off the edge, feeling a Chitauri approach to catch him.

 _No… Thor… save me… someone save me…_

The Tesseract laughed, a cruel noise inside Loki's head. _**You won't be saved. You belong to the Other and you are his faithful servant, aren't you?**_

As Loki neared the Chitauri, he felt the Tesseract's magical control cement around his mind. He struggled mentally, trying to escape, but the Tesseract's mental ropes only tightened around his mind, ensuring his compliance.

 _Yes. I belong to the Other._


End file.
